Tel Dan and a piece of the Galilee

For Shawn's break between semesters (three weeks in Jan and Feb), we decided we needed to go north and see some sites that an ancient Near East scholar must see. Tel Dan ("hill" of Dan) was high on Shawn's list so we made it a priority.

Trying to get a view of Mt. Hermon, with its snowy peaks.

The Golan is green.

Ready for a hike!

Boys on a field trip.

Olives

A beautiful olive tree

This is the Israelite period wall around the city of Dan. Some of this has been restored. 

You can see the paved stones at the entrance of the gate complex. These paving stones are original. The entrance to the gate is at the corner to the left. 

Though we assume that most of this gate and the wall is reconstructed, this gives a good picture of the width of the wall. Thick!

These are the remaining walls of some of the shops after the entrance of the gate. 

We wandered the wrong way and found the back of the Canaanite gate.

The front of the Canaanite gate. They are still excavating it.

Look at that beautiful gate! A completely intact gate arch dating from the 9th century BC! Now that is interesting!

"Cultic" means "Ritual/Religious" in the academic world. FYI :) [this is totally Beth's comment. I would have just assumed you knew what cult means]

This is a cistern outside of the main altar chamber. There is a lot of water used in rites and rituals,  and this cistern probably had a similar function to the "bronze sea" mentioned in Solomon's Temple (2 Kings 25:13).

This metal box is just a representation to mark off where the altar would have been at the cultic site. But you should notice that each corner has a 'horn' this is what is meant by the 'four horns of the altar'. (Check out the picture of a reconstructed altar here).

This is probably the place of the altar.

Up to the high place.

Part of reconstruction? Maybe.

Nothing like make your annual pilgrimage to the high place to.... change a diaper!  

Hurry! Get those pants back on!

Warm and sleepy

Left over from the recent wars in the area.

Looking towards Mt. Hermon.

That didn't take long.

Looking back to the high place on our way out.

Mushroom!

Bamboo!

Next, we headed down to the Galilee because we had just enough time to see a Christian site before everything closed for the day. We chose the Tabgha Church.

This church is famous for this mosaic of the bread and two fish. The rock is the traditional place where Jesus actually set the loaves and the fishes as he preformed the miracle.

The rest of the mosaic is amazing too.

The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).